Thursday, July 10, 2008

"Belle De Jour": Feet of unbridled/bridled lust.

Luis Bunuel, 1967.

Severine spends her afternoons working in a brothel as "Belle De Jour", not for money but to be treated as a sex object. Marcel is a thief who will avail himself of her services and become possessive and jealous.

A few details: Severine's shoes have become a prop for her sexual role-play, a carry-over from her "real life" role as the prudish wife of a businessman. The enormous cosmetic buckles fallaciously imply chastity while her rigid legs are submissive without consenting—she maintains the fantasy of virginity seized by a lustful brute, the latter role Marcel gleefully, albeit unwittingly, accepts. Only one of Marcel's shoes has been removed, as though while taking his shoes off he had become impatient and pounced on Severine. His stocking foot curls possessively around Severine's calf, appearing dominant while the symbolic hole in his wrinkled sock reveals his weakness, his vulnerability, his instability. In the end Severine will wield the power, denying Marcel's love and leaving him to lash out violently and impotently.